Many physicians see part of their compensation tied to their productivity

Physicians are still getting a lot of their pay from personal productivity despite broader attempts to shift to value-based payment models.

An analysis (PDF) from the American Medical Association found that 31.8% of the average physician’s compensation came from personal productivity in 2016.

Salary continued to be the dominant method of physician compensation, but productivity was also a large and important factor, especially for doctors who are practice owners, according to the report, which was based on the 2012, 2014 and 2016 surveys.

“On the individual-physician level, personal productivity remains a key driver of compensation,” the AMA said in an article that looked at the research.